


Never Again

by FieryArtemis



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 17:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4400558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieryArtemis/pseuds/FieryArtemis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tadashi discovers Hiro's bot fighting and the perils of said activity all in one night. There's no way that he's going to let Hiro fend for himself ever again. Six drabbles about the shenanigans Tadashi finds himself in the middle of and the lengths he'll go to protect his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hiro's New Hobby (or how Tadashi found out)

**Author's Note:**

> This set of stories is based on Tadashi's discovery of Hiro's bot fighting and the shenanigans that he gets into after sewing GPS trackers into Hiro's clothes. It is also loosely based on the 5 times he did and the 1 time he didn't premise. However, please consider this the one time he didn't.

It must have been close to three in the morning when he first heard the muffled sound of footsteps on the stairs leading up to their third floor bedroom. Hiro, the knucklehead, was finally home. The door creaked open, painfully slow. It was obvious that Hiro didn't want to wake anyone up and he was doing a fairly good job at it. It was just too bad that Tadashi had never gone to bed.

A tiny beam of light was all that made it into the room before Hiro's shadow inched it's way in. He could see the outline of his brother sag a little in relaxation. All that was missing was the sigh that came along with it or maybe the devilish smirk that he pulled off so well. The door clicked closed with an almost imperceptible sound. Hiro crept into the room on his tiptoes, sneaking past the screen that separated their two living spaces without so much as a single sound. He was good, Tadashi would give him that… but not that good.

Tadashi reached across his brother's desk for the lamp. With a tap of the switch, yellow light filled the room and Hiro stopped dead in his tracks halfway to his bed. "Konbanwa otouto." he said with a smirk as he tapped the pen he was holding in his free hand against his knee. "Or maybe I should say ohayo but either way you look at it, you're crawling into the house way too late to have been at… who was it again you claimed to be hanging out with? Nick?"

Hiro's jaw dropped open, doing a fantastic impression of the carp kite that Aunt Cass had flying downstairs outside the cafe. All the color seemed to have drained out of his face though so that was a bit disappointing. Tadashi had hoped that Hiro would at least get a _little_ flustered. "Wh...what are you still doing up?" stammered Hiro.

"I could ask you the same question." Tadashi pointed out as he leaned back in his brother's chair. That's when he noticed the black, spindly limbed robot that was in his brother's hand. Tadashi sat forward immediately, eyes narrowing. There was no way in Hell that Hiro was doing what was usually done with those kinds of bots. Not his little brother!

Hiro saw where he was looking and quickly shoved the robot behind his back. Oh God, he realized abruptly, his brother was bot fighting. The thought must have been broadcast on his face because of the way that Hiro suddenly got all surly. "What are you doing in my chair? Don't you have your own side of the room to haunt?"

"Hiro Hamada have you been out bot fighting?" he demanded through clenched teeth.

"What! No!" scoffed Hiro, doing a spectacular rendition of being mortified at the suggestion. "How can you even think such a thing? Me, your cute, innocent, little brother. I'm only thirteen for God's sake. Where would I even find out about places to bot fight?"

And Heaven help him, Hiro looked perfectly innocent. Right down to the doe eyed look on his face. Tadashi got out of the chair, marched straight up to Hiro, and held his hand out. "Let me see it." he growled.

Hiro looked absolutely hurt at the request. His lip quivered and his eyes started tearing up. Tadashi was not impressed. His hand remained firmly in place. "That's not going to work on me otouto. Let. Me. See. It."

"Oh my God!" snapped Hiro, forgetting that it was, in fact, three in the morning and letting his voice rise. "Why can't you just trust me?"

There was a noise from down the hall. A falter of a snore before the regular tempo resumed again. However, it made Hiro go ramrod straight and all the color drained out of his face again. He clamped his hand over his mouth, forgetting about the bot he was trying to hide. "That's right. Yell a little bit and wake Aunt Cass up. Then you can explain to her how you've been lying about hanging out with friends you don't have as well as telling us both how you managed to pick up bot fighting since graduating high school this past spring." Tadashi told him dryly and without much sympathy.

Hiro dropped the "poor, innocent me" look and replaced it immediately with a glare. "If you knew I wasn't hanging out with friends then why didn't you say something sooner Nii-chan?" Hiro asked, using the old name scathingly. Probably didn't like being reminded that he didn't have any friends, which in all honesty, Tadashi had to admit was a low blow. He should've never said it. However, he was in the middle of something at the moment. He'd apologize for it later.

"Because I did want to trust you." Tadashi told him grimly. "I wanted to believe that you weren't actually out on the streets of San Fransokyo doing something as stupid as bot fighting Hiro."

A grin cracked across Hiro's face, "Oh yeah. And what sort of alternatives did you come up with?"

"Don't change the subject Hiro." Tadashi snapped. "Don't you know how dangerous bot fighting is? It being illegal is only surface of it. Have you seen some of the men that do it? Some of them are hard core mob bosses Hiro."

"Bot fighting itself isn't illegal. Just the betting on it." offered Hiro with only cheekiness that he could manage.

"Between hardened mob bosses and betting on bots, you chose to focus on betting." grumbled Tadashi throwing his hands in the air. "Unbelievable!"

"But Tadashi! I'm so good at it!" whined Hiro. He pulled a huge wad of money out of the pocket of his hoodie. The sight was enough to make Tadashi groan and beat the heel of his palm against his forehead.

"You need a different hobby Hiro and I suggest you find it quickly Hiro." Tadashi threatened him. Hiro met his stare evenly if not defiantly. He crossed his arms over his chest, wrinkled his nose up, and clenched his teeth together. Tadashi sighed, "Hiro… we can talk about this later in the morning. After we've both had some time to sleep and cool off."

Hiro said nothing. Not at first. Then his shoulders sagged. "Alright," he mumbled.

Tadashi was pretty certain that Hiro was probably grateful that he hadn't ran straight for Aunt Cass's room to wake her up upon his discovery. He was also pretty certain that, while Hiro played a good defeatist attitude, it was just that. Play. Hiro's mind was probably working overtime to try and figure out a way to weasel himself out of this one. Tadashi had just given him the rest of the night to do it in. However, Tadashi needed the rest of the night himself to figure out how he was going to deal with Hiro's new bot fighting hobby. They were both going to be laying in bed thinking for a long time.

Tadashi walked past Hiro and ran his hand through his brother's hair. "Goodnight otouto." he said gently as he let his hand trail down to Hiro's shoulder.

There was a sharp intake of breath. A gasp of pain. Tadashi pulled his hand away as though he'd been scalded and whipped around to face Hiro again.

Hiro was hunched into a strange position, simultaneously clutching his shoulder and twisting his back away from Tadashi. Tadashi went ice cold. "Hiro!" he called, darting back around in front of his brother, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Hiro mumbled something unintelligble under his breath. Tadashi laid his hands gently on the side of his face. His brother quickly averted his eyes. "Hiro did someone hurt you?" he asked urgently. His mind was flying back to all the school yard bullies that he'd chased off while Hiro was still in high school. Hiro had always been small and it made him an easy target. Add his filterless mouth into the mix and the kid practically begged for trouble sometimes. Right now, Hiro was acting just like he had when he had when he'd recieved a bad beat down from a bully that Tadashi hadn't been around to scare off. "Did someone hurt you?" Tadashi asked again.

"I fell. It's nothing." muttered Hiro.

"Let me see." he demanded. Hiro looked up at him with a glare. "The way I see it, you can do this one of two ways. Either you take off your shirt and let me see or I pull it right off your back and I'll see it anyways."

Hiro continued to glower at him. However after a moment Hiro pulled backwards and tossed his bot fighting robot on to his bed. "You suck, you know that?" Hiro grumbled as he pulled his shirt over his head.

Something burned in the pit of Tadashi's stomach. Thick, dark purple bruises sprawled across Hiro's back. Somehow, he wasn't sure if the yellow light made them look worse or "better." His tongue felt like lead and his throat felt like it was swelling shut as he looked at the marks on Hiro. "Hiro," he whispered in horror once he finally managed to get his tongue to form words, "who did this to you?"

What he was going to do about it was beyond him. The damage was done. His baby brother had been used as someone's punching bag again and it wasn't like he could just go track down the perpetrators to beat the ever living tar out of them. Hiro shrugged. "I told you I fell."

"Yeah, into someone's fist apparently." Tadashi growled. "Who did this?"

"One of those hardened mob bosses you warned me about." Hiro muttered under his breath.

Tadashi pressed his eyes shut. He couldn't look anymore. Not at the bruises. Not at the look on Hiro's face. He just couldn't look anymore. Without warning, he wrapped his arms around Hiro and pulled him close to his chest. Of course he made sure not to grab hold of the battered part of Hiro's body, but the kid was doing a pretty good job of aggravating the bruises already with all his thrashing. "Aw c'mon Tadashi! Seriously! Let go. Stop being so mushy. It's just a few bruises. They're not so bad." whined Hiro.

Tadashi reluctantly let Hiro go. Hiro was beet red with embarrassment. He quickly shoved his shirt back on. Tadashi went to say something but found he didn't know what else to say. What could he say honestly? Nothing sounded right even in his head. He'd have to think of something though, for in the morning.

Hiro yawned loudly, breaking Tadashi's line of thought. "Go to bed Hiro." he said quietly. "We'll talk about this in the morning."

Hiro didn't say anything. He looked up at Tadashi with wary but tired eyes. At long last, he gave a sigh. "They really _aren't_ that bad Nii-chan." he mumbled before walking over to his bed.

As Hiro began pulling off his shoes and digging under his mass of blankets for his pyjamas, Tadashi started for his own side of the room. He stopped suddenly, remembering something. "Hey, Hiro…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I said that you didn't have any friends. I shouldn't have ever said it."

"It's alright. Just go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Hiro."

"Night Tadashi."

Tadashi pulled the screen that separated their own spaces closed. He could see the vague outline of Hiro until the lamp was turned off. Tadashi laid in bed, thinking more about the bruises and the men who'd given them to him than anything else. He laid in bed for a long, long, _long_ time. Just trying to figure out what he would say and do in the morning. Whether or not he would tell Aunt Cass or just keep quiet so she didn't have to worry. By the time he finally succumbed to exhaustion, there was only one thing Tadashi was certain about. Hiro would never again be beat up because of his bot fighting. Never again.


	2. Tiger Guy (or the first incident)

Tadashi did his best to ignore the looks he was getting as he pushed his way through the crowd. Some of them were the run of the mill "wow! Who's this rude guy just shoving his way on through?" He did tend to use his elbows a lot to push aside those that blocked his way. Many, however, took one look at his straight laced, goody two shoes appearance with his cardigan, chucks, and San Fransokyo Ninja's hat and sneered. He didn't belong here and neither he nor the people he was trying to get through made no qualms about showing that fact.

He checked his phone as he weaseled his way between two rough looking gentlemen who could snap him like a twig if they were so inclined. The little blinking dot on the screen indicated that Hiro was indeed somewhere in this warehouse. Of course so were about a hundred other people and their shady mothers but whatever. All he cared about was the one little blinking dot on his phone.

Tadashi didn't feel at all guilty about his solution to Hiro's new hobby, especially after the reaction he'd gotten the morning after he'd discovered it. It had boiled down to Hiro swearing up and down that he would never do it again and how he realized now just how dangerous it was and that bot fighting wasn't worth risking his future over. The spiel would have been a little more convincing if Hiro hadn't have been grinning all the way through it and at least  _feigning_ some sort of remorse. Tadashi could envision the fingers crossed behind Hiro's back. He'd nearly called BS right then and there. Instead, he'd just gone out and bought some high end GPS tracking chips. If Hiro was bound and determined to be a grade A bonehead, then the least Tadashi could do was make sure he didn't get himself hurt… or worse. Hiro would be outraged if he ever discovered the GPS tracking chips Tadashi had sewn into all his favorite hoodies. Then again, he'd done a pretty bang up job sewing the devices in that he doubted Hiro would notice anytime soon.

He'd held off on telling Aunt Cass about Hiro's new hobby for the time being. Why he wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was because of the deeply ingrained fact that Hiro was his brother and they'd made a pact full of over four hundred and fifty rules that were all taken with the utmost seriousness. Okay, so that wasn't the truth and Tadashi knew it. He just didn't want to worry Aunt Cass over something like this. She was already stressed out with the cafe as it was. She didn't need Hiro's sudden desire to bot fight added to the mix. No, Tadashi would take care of this quietly. Then his Aunt wouldn't have to freak out. Besides, after Hiro did this a few more times, he'd see how dangerous bot fighting was and leave it be. Bot fighting was just a phase.

"YOU LITTLE CHEAT!" screeched an angry, booming voice. The crowd parted abruptly to reveal a tall, dangerous looking man covered in tiger tattoos and his little brother. Yep, this was totally just a phase.

A phase that was going to get Hiro killed.

"Give me back my money you lying little snot." tiger man snarled as he raised a huge hand into the air over Hiro's head.

Hiro's eyes went wide for a moment before he rushed to raise his hands to cover himself. Tadashi was there already though. He grabbed the back of Hiro's hoodie and yanked him to his side. "Oh thank God you found my little brother." he said lightly as he could manage.

"Tadashi?" Hiro sputtered in surprise. "Wha... mmphf..."

Whatever Hiro had been about to ask was promptly cut off when Tadashi crushed Hiro's head under his arm protectively. It also pinned Hiro's face against his side in the process. Hiro let out some muffled and inarticulate squawk of protest as he pushed and flailed against Tadashi's firm grip. It was a good position to keep Hiro from shooting off his mouth. "I have been so worried about you!" Tadashi told Hiro in a worried voice. Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating just a bit but only just a little. If he played this up, tiger guy might not escalate the situation to a fight. Tiger guy could probably crush him to a pulp with just one hand. "I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"You know this brat?" tiger guy demanded.

"Of course! Don't you see the familial resemblance?" Tadashi joked. He was totally playing with fire. He realized that as he grinned like an idiot at tiger guy. His stupid smile must have confused tiger guy because the guy just stood there looking at him, blinking. Tadashi took advantage of tiger guy's stunned silence and said quickly, "Thank you so much for finding him for me. Kids today, y'know. Getting into all sorts of trouble. The little rascal."

Tadashi rubbed a noogie into the top of Hiro's skull as he started to protest at Tadashi's comment. Hiro instead made some sort of undignified, muffled noise against Tadashi's side, probably a curse. Definitely a curse. Tadashi ignored it as he continued to grin at tiger guy. "I'll just take him home now. Sorry if he's bothered you at all. C'mon you knucklehead. Time to go."

Tadashi started backing away from tiger guy, dragging Hiro at his side.

"Hold on!" snapped tiger guy as he reached out and grabbed the front of Tadashi's shirt. Okay, so walking away was a no go then. In the sudden yank, Tadashi lost his grip on Hiro. He also got a face full of tiger guy's really bad breath. "That kid swindled me out of five hundred bucks!" spat tiger guy.

Tadashi couldn't help the sudden wave of nausea that crashed over him as his eyes about bugged out of his skull. Five hundred dollars! Holy crap, that was a lot of money. Where had Hiro gotten that kind of money in the first place. The nauseous feeling only increased when he saw tiger guy's buddies, four in total, stood up and surrounded them in a semicircle. No running away then and probably not the best idea to break out the karate. However, a sideways glance at Hiro told him that was probably what Hiro was expecting him to do. Tiger guy's fingers tightened in the front of his cardigan. "I want my money back."

He let out a nervous laugh and pried tiger guy's fingers off of him. "Not a problem." Tadashi assured him weakly as he smoothed out his clothes. Too bad that was the moment that Hiro chose to jump past him and open his big fat mouth.

"No way!" Hiro said venomously. "I paid to fight and I won. Not my fault that your bot was…"

Tadashi grabbed Hiro under his arms, pulling him back and clamping his hand down over Hiro's mouth. There was little doubt in Tadashi's mind that tiger guy really wouldn't appreciate what trash talk Hiro had to say about his bot. The kid's sense of self preservation needed some serious work. Hiro pulled at Tadashi's hand to try and free himself. Tadashi gave Hiro approximately thirty seconds before Hiro licked his hand. He squeezed tighter in response.

"You're a crooked little hustler kid. No one likes a hustler." tiger guy growled.

"Again, kid's today. Bunch of smart alecks aren't they." Tadashi said as he grimaced at the sudden, disgusting, feeling of Hiro's tongue on his palm. He resisted the urge to let go of Hiro to wipe his hand. Or throttle Hiro. Both options were equally appealing at the moment. Instead, Tadashi let out another strained laugh as he smiled weakly at tiger guy and his buddies.

"I ought to teach you what happens to hustlers in my part of town. You and your goody two shoes brother." snarled tiger guy. He wrapped his fingers into a fist and beat it into the palm of his other hand. A few of tiger guy's friends laughed as they closed ranks around them. Tadashi could feel every eye in the warehouse on them. A lump settled into his throat as he met tiger guy's icy cold glare.

"Yes, well, um that might not be the most effective use of your time." Tadashi told him.

"Oh really?" sneered tiger guy, stepping closer to them. "And why is that?"

That was a great question. "Uh... you mean beyond the usual he's a thirteen year old kid?" Tadashi asked as tried to buy himself some time to think of a real answer. Desperately he racked his brain and tried to will something to come to mind.

Tiger guy wasn't quite willing to give him that kind of time. He let loose a growl and stalked forwards, rhythmically smashing his fist into his palm. Once more, Tadashi placed himself in between tiger guy and Hiro. He also made sure that his hand was still firmly clamped over Hiro's mouth. It made an awkward angle for his arm but as tiger guy's buddies started advance on them, it was probably better that Hiro  _not_  be able to say anything at the moment.

"Of course you mean beyond the age thing. Well, um, you see... okay listen, sir," Tadashi sighed. He let the chipper, happy go lucky attitude he'd been putting on go and became dead serious. Clearly playing the naive card wasn't working in this situation. If anything it was going to get him beat up faster. "I'm gonna level with you. My brother's an idiot."

Hiro obviously protested under his hand and accompanied his muffled, angry words with a few wild flails of his arms. Tiger guy stopped his advance as did his buddies. They gave Tadashi a look. Tadashi swallowed the lump in his throat. "Look at him. He's not even half your size and he's running around looking for people he thinks he can con. C'mon, not exactly the smartest of ideas if you ask me. Kid might be a hustler but he's pretty stupid about it."

"Get to your point." tiger guy said warningly.

"Would smacking him around even make anything sink in? I mean, seriously? Look at who he picked a fight with. Pretty dumb if you ask me. Add that to the fact that the longer you spend 'teaching him a lesson' is more money out of your pocket. Can't bot fight if you're kicking around a kid. That and on top of that you could also lose your five hundred dollars because if you think this one would stick around to be punched at then you'd have another thought really quick. A rude one. I've seen this kid sprint for nearly a half mile to get away from bullies. The minute you stopped to catch your breath both he and your money would be gone."

The words came out nearly as fast as Tadashi thought them up. They ran together as spoke quick enough to rival a politician. Tiger guy and his buddies all blinked in confusion. He really hoped tiger guy didn't want him to repeat anything because Tadashi wasn't sure if he could actually remember any of it. An incredibly long, and not to mention very tense, minute or two, tiger guy dropped his hands to the side. His buddies backed off. Tiger guy gave Tadashi an appraising look. "You've got a smart mouth kid. Anyone ever tell you that?" tiger guy asked him scathingly.

GoGo did, at least every so often. However, he wasn't afraid GoGo was going to haul off and hit him with enough force to hurt him. That being said, Tadashi thought that this moment would be an excellent one to keep his mouth shut. For once, Hiro even seemed inclined to silence. "My money," tiger guy said as he held his hand out.

Tadashi looked down at Hiro, mustering up his best 'do it now' look. Hiro met his eyes briefly. Then he reached down into the pocket of his cargo shorts and withdrew a fat wad of cash. Wow! That was really a lot of money.

Hiro handed Tadashi the money with a reluctance that was only perceptible to him. Tadashi handed the money to tiger guy. "There you go," Tadashi told him in a voice that was much lighter than what he actually felt, "Five hundred dollars returned just like you asked. Satisfied?"

"Get your brat brother out of here." tiger guy said as he shoved the cash into his own pocket. "And don't let him come back here. The next time I might find beating up a kid worth my time."

"With pleasure." Tadashi mumbled under his breath. "C'mon Hiro."

Hiro let him pull him back through the parting crowd by the shoulder. He didn't say one word to Tadashi, not one. Tadashi felt everyone staring at them as they passed. He picked up the pace, walking as fast as he could pull Hiro, before anyone else decided that the pair of them needed a lesson or something. Without even realizing it, Tadashi curled his hand into a tight fist and tightened his arm in preparation to swing. No one moved to threaten them though and they made it out of the warehouse without incident.

As soon as they rounded the corner of the warehouse and the sounds of the bot fighting ring were muted, Tadashi finally felt the tension in his shoulders dissipate. He fell back against the brick wall of the warehouse and heaved a sigh of relief. " _That_  had to be the fastest thinking I've ever done." he groaned as he wiped his face with his hand.

"I'll say. I don't know if I should be impressed or insulted." Hiro quipped as he crossed his arms over his chest. He actually looked like he was trying to figure out which feeling would win out.

Tadashi shot him a glare as he pushed himself away from the wall. "Really? Did you seriously miss the big guy with the tiger tattoos who was more than ready to beat your face in? Because that was the only part that I was really able to focus on."

"I could've handled that." Hiro told him in exasperation as they walked towards Tadashi's moped. Okay, so irritated at the loss of money was how Hiro was going to feel about the entire thing. Fantastic!

Tadashi turned and gave Hiro an icy glare. "Yes, you had that so well in hand."

"I could've totally gotten away with the money. You didn't have to give it back." Hiro complained loudly.

"It was either give the money back or be curbed stomped." Tadashi reminded him.

"You let the big guys think their gonna be able to hit ya, duck out of the way at the last moment, and run like Hell. No sweat." shrugged Hiro.

Tadashi grabbed his spare helmet off his moped and pressed it roughly into Hiro's middle. Hiro let out an 'oof' of surprise and glared up at Tadashi. "Yep, you definitely had everything under control then. I shouldn't have butted in." replied Tadashi as strapped on his own helmet, not bothering to mask his sarcasm.

"That guy wasn't even all that big. You should see some of guys bot fight in the Akihabara Tech district. They have muscles on their muscles." Hiro said offhandedly.

Tadashi let out a groan. "Do you seriously think telling me this makes me feel any better?"

"I didn't ask you to come looking for me." scoffed Hiro, "How'd you even find me anyways?"

"My brother senses were tingling." Tadashi told him dryly. He was purposely avoiding the question but what Hiro didn't know about the GPS chips in his hoodie wouldn't hurt him. It was turning out though that it might very well just save Hiro's life though. Hiro scowled at him, less than thrilled with the answer he got. Tadashi mounted his moped and fired it up. "Get on the moped Hiro and let's just go home before anyone else you conned tonight decides to show up and teach us a lesson."

"Whatever." grumbled Hiro as he climbed up behind Tadashi. Tadashi was trying to fight his irritation with Hiro. It was like Hiro didn't realize just how close he'd come to getting beat up again. Maybe he just didn't care. Tadashi bit back his irritation as he revved the gas on the moped. Well, he didn't protect Hiro because he was looking appreciation or gratitude after all. "Hey Tadashi..." Hiro started abruptly.

"Yeah," he muttered in a response.

"Thanks for taking care of that guy for me... even if you did call me an idiot. At least I won't have any bruises this time around."

A small smile crept to his lips as his irritation started to drip away. "You're welcome Hiro." Tadashi replied as he drove the moped away from the curb. "You're still not off the hook though."

"Aw come  _on_!" whined Hiro as he thumped his head against Tadashi's back in annoyance.


	3. Cookie (or the second incident)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely the alternate title for this chapter is "Open mouth, insert foot." Or it could be "Good job Tadashi!" Or "Real smooth Hamada!" Honestly the list goes on and on. I had a bit too much fun with this particular concept. However, the hardest part was writing it so that Tadashi didn't come off as a giant jerk.

How did Hiro find these places? No! Seriously! How did he? He was a half pint, shrimp kid that was barely a teenager. There was no way that Hiro should even have a clue where to look for these back alleys and run down warehouses that hosted bot fights. Was there like a website or something that advertised these places or was it just word of mouth?

Tadashi was personally trying very hard not to breath through his nose. While the establishment that seemed to be hosting tonight's bot fight probably served decent Chinese food up front in its dining room, the smell of it in their greasy back room parlor left something to be desired. Mushu pork and sweat just really didn't form a very appetizing scent when mixed together. The back room of the Chinese restaurant definitely had less people than the abandoned warehouse he'd found Hiro in the last time. However, it was still packed to the gills with people. What made it even more difficult was the fact that there were several small bot fighting rings that each had a massive congregation of people around them. Tadashi had to search through each and every one of them for Hiro. "Anybody see a kid about this tall with a bird's nest for hair?" he asked frustratedly as the fourth ring he'd checked turned up bust.

"If ya ain't bettin' then get away from the front of the ring." growled some lanky punk skater kid.

"Wow," Tadashi muttered under his breath as he ducked away from the ring, "not very big in the manners department here are we?"

"Wait! What!" cried someone in a distressed voice. "No! How did you do that?"

The crowd parted around the fifth and only fighting ring Tadashi had yet to look in. Hiro was sitting at the edge of the ring with his bot's controller still in his hand. Hiro  _would_  be in the last place Tadashi looked. That was just his luck. Go figure.

"Tell me how you did that you little weasel!" demanded the girl sitting across from Hiro. Her bright red hair blended straight into the angry red blush that was sweeping over her face. Tadashi swore under his breath. The stupid kid was hustling again. Tadashi jumped forward quickly. Hiro was going to get himself killed one of these days. He was nearly certain of it.

"B... believe me," Hiro stammered as he looked at the girl with wide eyes. "I have no clue."

"Don't you give me that!" snapped the girl as she got up and stomped her way to a badly mutilated bot. Even without taking a really close look at the bot, Tadashi could tell that it was pretty crudely made. Like one of those beginner robot building kits that Aunt Cass had bought them to put together when they were kids. This girl's robot looked as though it had been put together by a kid, badly. It looked as though it had tripped over it's own saw and had sheared itself in half. Exposed wires sparked and gears tumbled out as the girl picked up the bot. Hiro, for once, actually looked like he was genuinely surprised at what had just happened.

The girl gave a wordless scream as she twisted her bot this way and that to examine it. That was when Tadashi caught sight of the little tattoo on the inside of her wrist. It was hiding underneath all her bangles but as soon as he saw it he recognized it immediately. It was a neat little tornado tattoo in black ink. It was exactly the same one that GoGo had. The one she now hid underneath her bracelets, sweat bands, and long sleeves. The girl in front of him was a Fujita. His brother was moments away from hustling a member of one of the most notorious gangs in San Fransokyo. Terrific! Tadashi swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. Funny. He'd always pictured the female gangsters with their skates, knives, and elaborate costumes. Or maybe not so funny.

As she mumbled something unintelligible but undoubtedly obscene, Tadashi decided it would be a good time to collect his brother. Make a clean get away without rocking the boat any more than it already was. The last thing he wanted was for a bunch of angry Fujitas to come out of the woodwork to back their friend up. He stepped forward and grabbed Hiro underneath his arm. "Time to go bro." he told him as he hauled Hiro to his feet.

"Wait a minute! Tadashi?" sputtered Hiro as Tadashi pulled him towards the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking you home before you goad anyone into a justifiable rage and get yourself punched out." Tadashi informed him, rolling his eyes.

"But I was just getting started for the night." Hiro whined.

Tadashi shoved him through the back door of the Chinese restaurant. "And now you're wrapping it up."

"Tadashi!" Hiro complained rather loudly. Thankfully, the pair of them had just stepped out on to the street in front of the restaurant so Hiro could pout as loud as he wanted without disrupting anybody inside, be they legal diners or illegal bot fighters. Hiro spun out of Tadashi's grasp and whipped around to face his brother. "This is the third time this week you've rained on my parade. The  _third_ time Tadashi! What gives?"

"What gives?" repeated Tadashi as he pulled his hat off his head and raked a hand through his hair in frustration. "You're looking at this the wrong way Hiro. This isn't the third time this week that I've 'rained on your parade.'"

Tadashi put Hiro's phrase in air quotes to emphasize the words.

"Did you just use air quotes with me?" snickered Hiro, finding the gesture amusing but missing the point entirely.

"Hiro what you're doing is beyond stupid. I think tiger guy said it best when he said no one likes a hustler. You're going to piss off the wrong person. Do you get that?"

"Chill out Tadashi." Hiro smirked rolling his eyes.

Really? Chill out? His brother was unbelievable sometimes. "You don't know any of these people. That girl you hustled tonight, for instance. She was a Fujita! Did you know that?"

"A Fujita?" Hiro's eyes went wide before a smirk spread across his face. "Cool! How did you know that though? Are  _you_  hanging out with gangsters at nerd school?"

"You were hustling a Fujita!" yelled Tadashi as he flung his arms out wide. It was taking every bit of his strength not to bash his head against the lamp post.

Hiro snorted, "That's the thing Tadashi. I wasn't hustling her. I was going to but she was just so, so,  _so_  bad!"

"Y'know something otouto? I don't really care." he grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No seriously! Did you actually  _see_  her bot? It looked like something you and I used to build from the kits Aunt Cass used to buy us. Before we made all our upgrades of course." laughed Hiro. "That girl couldn't build a bot let alone fight one!"

Tadashi looked at Hiro with an upraised eyebrow in a silent "you've got to be kidding me."

Hiro pressed on at a rapid fire speed. His words ran together in a rush as he waved his arms through the air like a madman. "I was all set up with my usual schtick. You know the, 'oh this is my first fight' and that girl was like, 'tch! I'll go easy on you kid. Just don't cry when I slice your wimpy bot in two.' Then she fires up her bot's buzz saw and charges Megabot. I have him stepped sideways. She misfires on her prehistoric controller and her bot trips over it's own appendages and promptly slices itself in half! It was great. I wish you could've been there to see it. Even you would have laughed at it."

Hiro finished and flashed a bright grin. Tadashi stared down at him, blinking in disbelief. The kid, once more, was missing the point completely. Again he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Oh yes because your latest sucker can't build a do-it-yourself robot from a ten year old's kit, uses an out of date and prehistoric controller, and is so hasty with the controls that they manage to over direct and sheer their piece of crap robot in two definitely means that... wh… what are you looking at?"

His voice dropped off suddenly as he saw Hiro's face drain of it's color and jaw tight. He also saw Hiro pointing, eyes wide, at something behind him. Tadashi got a really, really,  _really_  bad sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What did you say about my bot?" screeched a girl's voice. Tadashi winced. It was right over his shoulder and incredibly loud.

Tadashi looked up and over his shoulder. Standing right behind him was the girl that Hiro had claimed was too bad to hustle. And holy crap did she look pissed.

"Uh, how much of that did you hear?" Tadashi asked nervously.

Wham!

"Tadashi!" screamed Hiro as he jumped forward towards him. Tadashi was already on the ground though with the girl still looming over him, hand still balled into a fist. Okay... so she'd probably heard a good deal of what he'd said. Ow! The left side of his face really hurt from where the girl had decked him. He pressed his hand over his eye. Man! He could already feel it swelling. He was definitely going to have a black eye later on. That was going to be fun to explain to everyone, especially Aunt Cass seeing as how he'd still hadn't ratted Hiro out to her.

"What did you say about my bot you stuck up, arrogant, little pig?" spat the girl, her cheeks steadily becoming redder and redder. "No one trash talks Cookie! No one!"

"Leave him alone!" yelled Hiro as he tried to stand between Tadashi and the girl apparently named Cookie. For a brief minute, Tadashi's heart leapt into his throat as he saw Hiro move into a really bad defensive karate stance. Hiro was going to get hurt. Cookie would crush him! However, Cookie brushed Hiro out of the way as she stomped towards Tadashi.

"I come out here because that half pint weasel snuck away from me before he had a chance to tell me how he managed to get away from my superior robot and I hear you talking trash!" Cookie stabbed her finger in his direction. "Think you're some hot shot robotics engineer from that fancy college up the road? Not so tough now are you buddy? What do you have to say now, huh? Wanna say something else? Come on! What have you got?"

Tadashi's tongue felt like lead. Hiro was right behind Cookie looking as though he were trying to figure out if he should run for help or jump on top of her back. Cookie looked as though she were ready to gut him and hang him on a pole. She flung her arms wide in a 'come at me' sort of gesture. "Say something!" she challenged him.

Tadashi swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as he looked at Cookie's still tightly wound fist. "Nice left hook." he laughed nervously.

Cookie backed off abruptly. The look on her face he could only describe as shock as she stared down at him, blinking incredulously. Tadashi guessed out of all the things she'd expected him to say, telling her that she had a solid swing was not one of them. Quite quickly, though, her face hardened again. She bent down and glared at him. "You mocking me pretty boy? Did I not hit you hard enough?"

"Um, no. I think you hit me plenty hard enough. Pretty certain I'm gonna have a black eye in the morning." he told with a weak, little smile that he really hoped said something along the lines of 'please don't hit me again.' Cookie didn't seem convinced though. Very carefully, he started pulling himself backwards. He took his hand away from his eye and pointed to the tender spot. "See, look."

"You think you're funny?" Cookie snapped as she cracked her knuckles. "Why don't you get up and fight me?"

"Tadashi…" Hiro called from behind Cookie. Megabot was on the ground and he looked like he was seriously thinking about jumping on top of Cookie. He bounced up and down on his toes anxiously.

"It's alright Hiro." he told him reassuringly. "I really don't want to fight you."

"Because I'm a girl?" sneered Cookie.

"No, I just have a thing about not starting fist fights with gangsters… or anyone really. Doesn't solve much." Tadashi informed her pacifistically. Cookie continued to glower at him. "'Sides, it would be pretty stupid of me to pick a fight with anyone, man or woman, who can punch me straight off my feet. Right?"

Cookie made some annoyed sound in the back of her throat. "You weren't very smart when you were talking crap about my prehistoric controller, my hasty commands, and my piece of crap bot that you said looked like some kid built out of a kit."

"Well it does." mumbled Hiro in what he thought must have been under his breath but really wasn't.

Cookie rounded on him with a look that could make a grown man shudder. "Seriously Hiro. Not the time." he called over to him. "Cookie… it is Cookie isn't it? This was just a huge misunderstanding."

Cookie turned her attention back to him. He climbed to his feet slowly. Tadashi didn't want to jump him again. She backed off a step to let him stand. Maybe that wasn't such a bad sign. She looked him up and down as though she were sizing him up. "I know what I heard and it sure didn't sound like a misunderstanding to me pretty boy." she growled.

He winced but held up his hands in a peace making gesture. "I know, I know. It's just that…"

Just that what? Tadashi couldn't think of any way to finish that thought. Well the only way to really finish it and be honest would be to throw Hiro under the bus. Of course that was nowhere close to being an option for anything. Fortunately for Tadashi, Cookie filled in the rest of his sentence for him. "It's just that you didn't think anyone would hear you talking smack so you let your mouth run."

She stabbed her finger into his chest with enough force to make him grimace in pain and jump back a bit. She was still livid. He was going to get hit again. He was nearly certain of it. And this time when she hit him, Hiro wasn't going to stand by and let it happen. The kid would probably do something stupid, like trying to stop Cookie, and get himself hurt too. There was really only one thing he could think of at this point to do. Too bad he had no idea if it would actually even work.

"You're right," he said quickly. "I didn't think anyone was listening. I shouldn't have been trash talking. I deserved that punch. I'm sorry."

He tried to infuse every ounce of sincerity into his words as he dipped into a forty-five degree angle bow. He'd recalled the traditional Japanese etiquette conversations with his dad from years and years ago. The lower the bow the more respect, or in this case the more regret, was shown. Tadashi remembered using it when he'd broken a neighbor's window with a baseball.

Once more Cookie drew back in shock. Tadashi waited on baited breath, hoping and praying that his apology would actually work as he held the bow. Tentatively, he raised his eyes. Cookie was looking at him with a slack jawed expression. Perhaps she wasn't used to getting an apology or respect that quickly. She was a Fujita after all, a gangster, who's life was nothing but demanding respect even if it meant punching it out of people. As he stood up straight once more, she wiped it from her face. She huffed and threw her hands in the air. "Whatever. Just don't let me ever catch you doing it again. You got that pretty boy?"

"Loud and clear." he nodded while forcing on a bright smile.

Cookie turned on her heel and strode back into the restaurant, presumably to bet on a few more fights for the night. Tadashi didn't breathe a sigh of relief until she was well out of range. Absentmindedly he rubbed his swollen eye. Of course that meant he felt the twinge of pain as he touched it. Tadashi gave a hiss and quickly pulled his hand from his face.

"Sooo," Hiro started as his nerves started to dissipate as well, "was that the infamous Hamada charm right there?"

"Just be glad it worked bonehead." he shot back with an upraised eyebrow. The good one, though, the one not covered in a bruise. The muscles on the left side of his face were stinging. He really had no idea how he was going to explain this one to Aunt Cass. Or anyone else for that matter. Man! Dr. Callaghan was really going to enjoy this story. Tadashi was certain of that.

Hiro, once more oblivious, snickered. "You really need to work on your game Nii-chan. I don't think girls like it very much when you call their robots mean names."

"Duly noted." Tadashi rolled his eyes as he steered Hiro towards his moped.

"You know everyone at school used to talk about how smooth you were with the ladies. I wonder what they would say if they knew you just failed so epically?"

"That's enough Hiro." Tadashi groaned. However, judging by the way Hiro was laughing, Hiro wasn't even close to being done giving him a hard time. Well at least he wasn't bot fighting and putting himself in danger at the moment. Tadashi could live with that.

 


	4. Front Man (or the third incident)

"So this is where that knucklehead has been snooping around at." Tadashi mumbled as he ran his hand around the wooden flats of the fence that surrounded the construction site. The next question was  _why_  he'd been hanging around a construction site. There was nothing but dirt piles, stacks of metal rebar, and concrete slabs. The skeleton of the building that was going up cast a giant shadow in the setting sun. There wasn't anything on this little plot of land that could be remotely interesting to Hiro... unless the kid was scavenging for random odds and ends for some robot creation here. Then again, Hiro didn't typically build anything big enough to warrant taking parts from a heavily surveilled construction site.

Scratch that. The site wasn't heavily surveilled. Tadashi looked up. There wasn't a single security camera in sight. He also hadn't seen any security guards hovering anywhere nearby. That's when Tadashi saw the cinder block ring being set up just past a bulldozer by a pair of suspicious looking men. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. Somehow, some way, he knew exactly what that ring was going to be used for and suddenly understood why Hiro had been poking around the place. "Why... does... he... insist... on... doing... this... to me?" Tadashi muttered under his breath as he methodically beat his forehead with the heel of his palm.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" snapped a voice. Tadashi picked his head up out of his hand and turned to look at the two guys that were walking his way. They looked about the epitome of unfriendly. Tadashi didn't miss how Unfriendly One kept grabbing at the waistline of his pants as they approached him. And it wasn't because Unfriendly One was trying to keep his pants from falling down. It was either a gun or a knife but he really wasn't curious enough to find out.

"Is there going to be a bot fight here tonight?" Tadashi asked the pair of men. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the cinder block ring behind him. Unfriendly One and Two shared a look with one another as Unfriendly One began to hike up his shirt. Tadashi felt the color drain out of his face.

"Who wants to know?" Unfriendly One said with a feral kind of grin on his face.

"Whoa! Wait! Wait!" he sputtered as he waved his hands in front of him. "I'm just asking a question."

"You a cop?" Unfriendly Two asked him as Unfriendly One continued to hold whatever was in his waistband.

"Do I look like a cop?" sighed Tadashi as he motioned to himself. Unfriendly One and Two looked him up and down carefully.

"Sure as Hell look like you don't belong here." Unfriendly One snorted.

Oh boy, and didn't Tadashi know it. "When's the bot fight?" he asked again while trying to seem like he wasn't a threat to the other two.

"Maybe the prep boy wants to try his hand at bot fighting." sniggered Unfriendly Two to One. They both dissolved into loud laughter. Tadashi rolled his eyes. Yes, the entire situation was hysterical.

"Listen, I'm not the least bit interested in your bot fight. I'm not looking to turn in anyone to the police. I just want to know when the bot fight is." he repeated emphatically.

"If you aren't interested in bot fighting and you aren't the police, then why do you even want to know?" Unfriendly One asked as he stepped up closer to Tadashi. His feral grin was back and now paired with a dangerous kind of tone. He came up just short of Tadashi's face.

"Let's just say I have a vested interested in one of your potential combatants, shall we." Tadashi told the pair. Unfriendly One could really use a breath mint as well as a lesson in personal space.

Then, miraculously, as if Unfriendly One suddenly gained telepathic abilities, he pulled back sharply. Shock colored his face though Tadashi wasn't sure exactly sure why. Unfriendly Two was also gaping at him as if there was a second head on his neck. "Do you think..." whispered Unfriendly Two to his buddy.

"The big time guys have always used clean cut faces to run their businesses." Unfriendly One answered back.

"Crap," groaned Unfriendly Two. He actually buried his head in his hands and turned bright red. It would have been weird to Tadashi if he wasn't still wondering what Unfriendly One had meant by the 'big time guys.' He flipped the words over in his head briefly. Obviously, they were important, whoever they were. Judging by the way they were acting maybe he should play along. It seemed like the option less likely to get him stabbed, shot, or beat up.

Subtly, Tadashi stood up a bit straighter and held his head a bit higher. As if he was actually someone important. He tucked one hand into his pocket lazily, pretending that he was completely at ease with the fact he was standing in front of a half rate construction site and staring down two unfriendly mooks. Unfriendly One and Two bickered back and forth between one another in hushed tones while looking back at him periodically. Tadashi cleared his throat. "One more time, when's the bot fight?"

Unfriendly One and Two stopped arguing immediately. They looked up at him abruptly. "Tonight at eleven." they both answered in perfect unison and with a marked air of respect.

Great! The bot fight was tonight. Just great. He didn't have a lot of time to thwart Hiro at all. Man, the kid had a knack for picking the worst of times. He was supposed to be working on his robotics project tonight. He was already far enough behind as it was. "Thanks guys." he muttered as he turned away.

"Hey wait!" cried Unfriendly Two.

Tadashi froze and looked back over his shoulder. The pair behind him were looking rather panicky. Okay, why were they so panicky? Unfriendly One laughed nervously, "So, uh, listen. When you tell your big top of the Yakuza boss, Shinji or Nakamura or whichever one it is, you aren't gonna mention our initial disagreement are ya. Y'know we'd hate to lose our jobs over some  _trivial_ misunderstanding."

His mind screeched to a halt. Had Unfriendly One just said Yakuza? As in Japanese mafia Yakuza? There were supposed to be hardened mafia bosses at this bot fight tonight. And  _Hiro_  was supposed to be coming here tonight. A horrible train of images of what the Yakuza could do to Hiro if they discovered him hustling. Sleeping with the fishes in a pair of concrete shoes. A long drive out of town to dig his own grave. A thousand cuts with a samurai sword. Oh God... he was going to be sick! And after he was done being sick he was going to staple Hiro to their bedroom floor where he could keep an eye on him indefinitely. Yep, that sounded like a good plan!

Someone cleared their throat to get his attention. "Sir, we're on the same page right. No need to get your boss involved right?"

Oh right. These guys thought that he was apparently the front man  _for_  one of these big Yakuza mafia bosses. That's when Tadashi realized that he probably shouldn't look white as a sheet and as though he was going to hurl if he wanted to keep these guys thinking he was someone important. "No, I don't think there's any reason to get my employer involved." he said swallowing the lump in his throat.

For whatever reason, Unfriendly One and Two bought the lie hook, line, and sinker. They visibly relaxed and even breathed a sigh of relief. Tadashi turned away and headed back to the park entrance as fast as he possibly could. He wasn't sure whether he should be concerned or thankful that he'd been mistaken for a Yakuza go between. Either way he looked at it though, it had gotten him the information he needed for the time being.

X X X

Hiro came poking around ten-thirty. He had been mostly coming from the East during his scouting visits so Tadashi figured that Hiro would also try to come in the East entrance to the park. Sure enough, the East entrance is where Hiro came from. Empirical data at its finest.

Of course the bonehead didn't see him. Tadashi had parked his moped on the other side of a big truck and he was currently leaning up against a tree that pretty well hid him from view unless someone walked right past him. Hiro paused a moment at the park entrance to push his hair from his eyes and to pat his pockets down. Making sure that he could use his "I swear to God, I'm innocent" puppy dog eyes to the fullest ability and that his betting money was ready to go. Satisfied, Hiro started towards the construction site... and right past Tadashi.

"Hey there otouto! Whatcha up to this late at night?" Tadashi called as Hiro passed him.

Hiro froze midstep, literally. He had one foot still in the air even. The look on his face was priceless as he turned around to face Tadashi. "Ta... Tadashi! What are you doing here?" Hiro laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Take a wild guess." said Tadashi in a monotone voice.

"Aw c'mon! How'd you even know where to find me?" whined Hiro as he threw his hands in the air.

"You aren't the only one who knows how to find a bot fight." he lied. Hiro narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Evidently he didn't quite buy the story. Tadashi kept his face even. The lie was better than telling Hiro the truth about the GPS trackers in his hoodies. There was no way he was getting into  _that_  right now.

"I'm going to that fight Tadashi." Hiro told him firmly.

"Uh, no you're not."

"Yes, I am!"

"Hiro, you aren't. Do you have  _any_ idea who's going to be there?" Tadashi asked in exasperation.

"A whole lotta suckers I'm sure." smirked Hiro.

"Yakuza, Hiro. There is  _Yakuza_  here tonight." Tadashi snapped.

Hiro snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure. Japanese mafia. Nice one Tadashi. Gotta try a little harder than that Nii-chan."

Tadashi went cold. Hiro had absolutely  _no clue_ what he was about to walk into. After all his poking around, he was completely oblivious. Tadashi's jaw fell open. "Wait, are you serious?" Hiro asked him, eyes going wide.

"Do you really think this is something that I would joke about?"

Hiro looked at Tadashi before looking back at the construction site. He looked back at Tadashi. "I swear to God Tadashi if this is some scare tactic to keep me from bot fighting tonight, I'm gonna..." he started to threaten.

"Okay, first of all, I shouldn't have to use scare tactics to keep you from bot fighting. You should know not to do it anyways. Secondly, you can't blackmail me because you're forgetting that I _still_ , for who knows what reason, haven't told Aunt Cass about this. And thirdly, why would I joke about Yakuza being around? It's bad enough that you insist on hustling thugs, gangsters, and felons but mafia, Hiro! The mafia? Are you trying to put me in an early grave? Are you trying to put  _yourself_  in an early grave. Do you  _want_ to be shoved into the bay and never found again?"

"Quit yelling at me!" Hiro snapped angrily. Tadashi shut his mouth and winced. He hadn't even realized that he'd so much as raised his voice.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I didn't mean to yell. Look... you scare me to death sometimes. Let's just go home alright. Before we stumble upon someone we really don't want to bump into okay?"

Hiro once more looked at the construction site where he knew the tempting cybernetic slaughter was occurring. He shifted a little, almost as if he was thinking about making a break for it anyways. Tadashi really, really hoped Hiro didn't run. He wasn't in the mood to chase the kid down.

"How do you know there's Yakuza there tonight?" Hiro asked, eyes narrowed at Tadashi.

"I, uh," Tadashi cleared his throat awkwardly, "I kinda got a partial guest list from the security guards."

"How'd you manage that?" Hiro whistled, obviously impressed. Tadashi turned bright red. A grin cracked on Hiro's face. "Okay, now you definitely have to spill. Tell me!"

"IkindagotmistakenforaYakuzafrontman." mumbled Tadashi as he stared pointedly away from Hiro.

Hiro cupped his hand around his ear and smirked, "What was that? I couldn't hear you?

"I kinda got mistaken for a Yakuza front man." Tadashi repeated louder. That was what broke Hiro. He burst out laughing uncontrollably. The little brat even collapsed to the ground and started rolling with laughter. "It  _isn't_ funny Hiro!"

"Yes... it... is!" gasped Hiro between his spurts of hysterical laughter. "You? A member of the mafia? Maybe as the guy who keeps the books. You're a big enough  _nerd_."

"Alright, fine. Laugh it up but can we just go already?" he sighed as he pointed off in the direction of where he stashed his moped.

"I don't know..." laughed Hiro, taking full advantage of the 'permission' he'd been granted. He scrunched up his face and did his best impression of an Italian accent, "Are you gonna make me an offer I can't refuse."

He shook his head. "Wait! No, no... that's the wrong accent. Hey Tadashi how do you do an intimidating Japanese accent again?"

Tadashi groaned loudly. He reached out and grabbed Hiro by the back of the hoodie. Hiro was still in hysterics to notice or care that he was being dragged across the pavement to the moped. Tadashi half expected Unfriendly One and Two from earlier in the afternoon to come and investigate. "You a Yakuza front man! That's the best thing I've heard in a long time." Hiro laughed.

He had to use the handlebars on Tadashi's moped to keep himself upright after he was released. Not even that was doing a good job. "C'mon Hiro.  _Before_  you drag all sorts of unwanted attention to us." Tadashi sighed as he pressed a helmet on to Hiro's head.

"It's alright. You'll just chase them off because you're a big, scary member of the Japanese mafia." Hiro teased back. However, he made no more comment about missing the bot fight. That was enough to bring a triumphant little smile to Tadashi's face. That is until Hiro started quote  _Scarface_ ,  _The Godfather_ , and any other mob movie he could think of again.


End file.
